This invention relates generally to Internet web-based client/server applications and, more particularly, to a system and method for controlling the transmission of information stored on electronic media to Internet websites accessed by consumers.
As the Internet has evolved, the purpose for maintaining a website has also evolved. Websites are now used not only to entertain those accessing them, but are also used as a vehicle to provide products, services, and information, in some instances in exchange for a fee. Thus, many website owners are now using their websites as a virtual store front or service counter. Interactions occurring at traditional service counters or in traditional stores involve personal contact that allows the owner or the owner""s employees to identify customers visually, if not by name. Ideally, after a consumer has had a number of interactions with an owner, the owner is able to note the consumer""s preferences and link those preferences to the consumer""s identity. Linking customers"" personal preferences to their identities allows store owners and service providers to remain competitive by allowing them to respond more quickly to their customers"" needs.
Because website owners do not have personal contact with those accessing their websites, website owners require some means other than visual contact to identify their virtual customers. One mechanism that was developed to help website owners identify those accessing their sites is the cookie. A cookie is a small piece of software, usually no more than a few lines of text, that is deposited upon the hard drive of the personal computer (PC) accessing a website. PC""s use HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to access websites on the world wide web portion of the Internet. An HTTP transaction involves a request by the individual PC attempting to access a website and a response issued by the website""s server.
Generally, a software application resident on the PC, normally referred to as a browser, sends a request to a server and the server issues a response in which it returns a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) document to the PC""s browser. The transfer of a cookie takes place as a part of the HTTP transaction process. The website server transmits a cookie to the PC""s browser along with the rest of the HTML document requested (i.e., the web page accessed). The browser then stores the cookie on the individual PC""s hard drive. Hence, the transfer of a cookie can be no more obvious than an HTML file download. In fact, cookies are meant to be invisible and are a means for website owners to gather information without bothering their website visitors.
Cookies are a general mechanism allowing servers at websites to store information on the hard drive of PC""s that access their websites. A server can retrieve and thus make use of only those cookies it has sent. Normally, a server cannot access cookies placed by other servers. Thus, information inside a cookie usually includes the description of the range of Uniform Resource Locators URLs), or website addresses, which may access that cookie. Future HTTP URL requests made by a PC upon which a cookie is resident that fall within the range of URL""s identified in the cookie include a transmittal of the cookie from the PC to the server. When a server retrieves a previously placed cookie, the server can update the information received and transmit an updated cookie back to the PC.
The type of information stored in a cookie can vary widely. For example, cookies are used by website owners to obtain an assortment of useful information about visitors to their website. In their simplest form, cookies can be used as a type of identification badge that is not personal. For example, a cookie may only report back to its server that a user identified by a number regularly views specific pages at the website. A cookie can keep a record of pages visited most frequently and how much time was spent on those pages. The kind of things normally written in a cookie include, for example, the visitor""s ID in the website database or the pages most often visited previously or any number of other things that are useful to the website owner. Cookies indicate, for example, the last time the user visited the site, how often the user visited the site, what pages the user viewed, and what the user""s interests are.
Cookies enable the website owner to respond quickly and efficiently to serve a multitude of user""s of the website. For example, if a user visits a number of pages of the website in sequential order and stops at page number 25 of 45 pages, the next time the user visits the website, the cookie indicates where the user stopped and may ask the user if she wants to continue where she left off. Cookies enable a website owner to recognize its customers when they come back into the store and to provide them with some level of either custom service or personalized service in much the same way as a traditional service counter store.
Cookies are like notes to the website owner. A cookie lets the website owner write a note to itself and give it to the customer. Every time the customer returns to the website, she brings the note with her, and the website owner can read the note and determine what should be remembered about the customer from the note. The website owner can change what is stored in the note over time or give each customer a number of different notes, so the website owner can remember a number of different things about each customer.
Cookies can also be used to provide a more personalized world wide web browsing experience. For example, a website can request that the user fill out a form detailing the type of information the user prefers to retrieve each time she visits the particular website. The user""s preferences are stored in a file maintained at the website server and linked to a specific cookie transmitted to the user""s PC. The next time that particular PC accesses the website, the cookie transmitted to the website identifies the file containing the user""s preferences so that only the information the user indicated was of interest is provided. Use of cookies in this manner frees users from retyping a user-ID during subsequent connections. When feasible, a website can store the user""s preferences in a cookie. Then, the website can obtain the user""s preferences each time the user accesses the website.
Websites offering a shopping basket to Internet shoppers may use cookies to retain information about items placed in the shopping basket. Cookies enable virtual customers to put items into their shopping basket, end their on-line session, and then see their basket as they left it when they return to the site. Cookies can also track how users navigate around a website, which pages they visit most frequently, how they enter those pages, and whether navigation can be made more efficient. For example, if a user has accessed a website having a number of sequential pages, a cookie can be used to note at which page in the sequence the user signed off and inquire if the user would like to continue where they left off during the next on-line session. Cookies can track this kind of information on a user-by-user basis.
Well designed cookies allow website owners to determine whether certain pages are launching points for users, or whether other pages typically cause users to head elsewhere on the web. Even a simple task like counting visitors can be enhanced through cookies. Absent information contained in a cookie, a typical counter cannot determine how many individual users have visited a site or how many of the total hits are repeat visits. In a sense, cookies allow website owners to write a note to themselves and give it to their visitors. Then, every time the user returns to the website, the owner can retrieve the note and identify the visitor and their preferences.
Currently, users can only control whether they will accept a cookie from a website and have no control over the distribution of cookies resident on their PC hard drives. Internet browsers can be configured to request the consumer""s permission to accept an offered cookie. By default, browsers are configured to accept cookies from websites without asking the consumer for permission. Many consumers do not configure their browser to inquire whether the user will accept cookies offered because they are unaware of their ability to do so. Others do not configure their browsers because the browsing experience becomes too cumbersome as many websites regularly attempt to send dozens of cookies during transmission of a single HTML document.
Even if consumers configure their browsers to request permission before accepting a cookie, once a cookie is accepted, consumers currently have no control over the dissemination of information stored in cookies on their PCs"" hard drives. Although the client side of the browser allows the visitor to decide whether she wants the cookie or not in the first place, once a cookie is there, there is nothing that prevents the cookie from being retrieved.
It is a feature and advantage of the present invention to provide PC users with the ability to manage the flow and content of information in cookies in order to protect the privacy of the information contained in storage areas of their PC""s.
It is a further feature and advantage of the present invention to provide online customers with the ability to control where a cookie will be stored and, specifically, to provide consumers with the ability to protect the privacy of information contained in cookies.
It is another feature and advantage of the present invention to provide consumers with the ability to control the dissemination of cookies resident on electronic storage media.
It is an additional feature and advantage of the present invention to allow consumers to assign hierarchical levels of privacy to different types of information contained in cookies and control dissemination of the cookies by the assigned privacy values.
It is still another additional feature and advantage of the present invention to allow consumers to monitor and meter information that merchants, i.e., websites, take and leave in the form of cookies.
It is still a further feature and advantage of the present invention to permit consumers to realize the value of information contained in cookies in the electronic wallets or on their PC hard drives, for example, by requiring compensation for access to information contained in their cookies.
To achieve the stated and other features, advantages, and objects of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention provides a system and method for controlling transmission of stored data to an Internet website server utilizing a xe2x80x9ccookie jarxe2x80x9d in an electronic or virtual wallet. In an embodiment of the present invention, the system stores the data for the website server when a user accesses the website. At a later time, when the user again accesses the website, the system of the present invention receives a request from the web server for transmission of the stored data to the website server. The system of the invention generates or forms a decision regarding a response to the request and automatically executes the decision regarding the response to the request.
In an embodiment of the present invention, storing the data involves accessing the website server by the user at a terminal, such as a personal computer with a browser application. When the website server is accessed by the user over the Internet, the website server sends the data to the browser application, which forwards the data to the virtual wallet application for the user. The virtual wallet application, which is server based, requests permission of the user to store the data by automatically prompting the user at the terminal for the permission. The user enters a decision at the terminal to either withhold permission or grant permission. If the user grants permission to store the data, the data is automatically stored by the virtual wallet application.
When the user again accesses the same website server, the website server sends a request for transmission of the stored data, which is received by the virtual wallet application for the user. The virtual wallet application automatically generates or forms a decision by prompting the user at the terminal for the user""s decision regarding a response to the request from the website server. The user enters a decision at the terminal either denying the request or granting the request.
In an embodiment of the present invention, alternatively, the user can preconfigure the virtual wallet application with at least one predefined parameter for the decision regarding the response to the request. The predefined parameter is, for example, a parameter relating to the information contained in the stored data, such as the user""s name and/or address, or, for example, a parameter relating to the identification of the website server requesting transmission of the stored data. The preconfigured virtual wallet application automatically generates or forms a decision for the user based at least in part on one or both of the predefined parameters. In other words, the virtual wallet application automatically generates or forms a decision for the user either withholding or sending the stored data to the website server based at least in part on one or both of the parameters.
The decision regarding the response is automatically executed by the virtual wallet application for the user by automatically sending the response to the website server either denying the request and withholding the stored data or granting the request and sending the stored data to the website server. The system includes a terminal, such as the user""s personal computer, with a browser application, which is used to access the website server, as well as a server-based electronic or virtual wallet application communicating with the user""s PC, for example, over a network such as the Internet.
Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will be set forth, in part, in the description that follows, and, in part, will become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practicing the invention.